Book Description

Biliana Cicin-Sain and Robert W. Knecht are co-directors of the Center for the Study of Marine Policy at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware and co-authors of The Future of U.S. Ocean Policy. (Island Press, 1998). ... Read more

Reviews (2)

coastal resources management
Philippines has been known for its great tropical underwater lifeforms. Living here is a great opportunity to discover and adapt on its enviromental impacts. Yet, Filipinos scarcely understand and less dessiminated regarding protection on its coastal resources. Until now and still is one habit of Filipinos by doing an illegal way of fishing which we called it Dynamite fishing and/ cyanide fishing. As a citizen, i am very much concerned and depressed which is why i am working with a government agency specialized in managing coastal resources to uplift fisherfolks spirit of conserving our marine life as a source of its living by not over exploiting it. Coastal Resource Management leads fisherfolks to its legal way of fishing as well as giving them information on alternative livehood. Coastal Resource Management is one way of saving our mother earth, abolished poverty and respect God's creation.

management plan integrated
alternative activities fisheries and productivities activities, the processes and cicle to generated this processes ... Read more

Book Description

A fascinating world, filled with mystifying colors, textures, and hundreds of exotic life forms, exists practically in the shadows of the skyscrapers of coastal cities.Hidden and seemingly unknown, this intertidal marine world is inhabited by some of nature's most beautiful and interesting creatures.All of this is easily accessible to anyone interested in learning about this special environment, even beginning explorers and young children.Life Between The Tides can be the key to opening this world, even from the comfort of home.

Life Between The Tides is not only an excellent full color tidepool field guide, it is also a resource for students and anyone interested in marine life.In addition to descriptions and color photos of the intertidal marine inhabitants in their natural habitats, sections also describe the intertidal environment, scientific nomenclature, and species interrelations.A special section describes how the reader, with no special equipment, can "explore the intertidal" and experience firsthand the remarkable array of colors, shapes, sizes, and activities of the life forms.The purpose of the book is to help satisfy the curiosity of those interested in the marine animals and plants living "between the tides."All of the photos are with the relevant text, so the reader does not have to flip back and forth between descriptions and color photos.Life Between The Tides is currently being used extensively as a text in Marine Biology and Marine Ecology courses in colleges throughout California. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

I Love It, I Love It, I Love It, I Love It, I Love It,
This book is great. Take it to the tide pools with you and look up the sea creatures you see. It will tell you what the animal is called and tell you about it. This is a great book for presents for people who love sea creatures. Jeff Brandon worked hard finding the creatures in their natural habitat, to take pictures of that sea creature. You will love this book. It is great to use for learning about the sea creatures in the ocean and at the tide pools. You will have a great time learning about the sea creatures. You will defiantly love this book. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

5 Star Subject, 3 Star Writing
Anyone who has visited the Outer Banks -- and many who have only seen them from the famous 1970-era Apollo space shot -- knows that the islands are unique, fragile, and someday going to be overrun, either by trashy tourism or, eventually, nature. Alexander and Lazell hope, but are hardly convinced, that nature will get the chance to run its long course. Beyond the fascinating subject, the authors' chapter by chapter analysis of the forces that compete on the Banks -- sand, wind, land, forest -- is a clarifying approach to writing about the science of the Banks. In separate chapters, Alexander and Lazell then effectively show how the forces combined to impact Blackbeard's last battle and the Wright Brothers efforts to fly. The final chapter, Convergences, is like reading a decade-early preview of the impact on the islands of Hurricane Isabel. I would call Alexander and Lazell prescient, but I suspect they themselves would be the first to admit they were simply documenting the inevitable future. Only problem with this excellent book is that the writing feels as if it was done either in turn or by compromise, and is often far less compelling than its subject matter. Still, Ribbon of Sand offers some science, some entertainment, and a whole lot of appreciation for this wonderful speck of the world.

Engrossing
I purchased this book to learn more about the Outer Banks, which I have long wished to visit and where we will spend a week this summer. It is an amazingly interesting and informative book. Geology, geography, biology, weather, ecology, politics, and more are all discussed as is the importance of each in relation to the others. I found the book engrossing and would recommend it even if you are not going to this unique area of the world. Now when the kids ask me why there is a forest in the dunes I will be able to tell them and I will be much better able to appreciate the beauty of the place.

Man and Nature on a Tiny Strip of Land
I picked this book up during a recent week's stay on Topsail Island (one of the southernmost of the Outer Banks). Having never read a book on natural history or the ecology, I was prepared for the paper-pulp equivalent of Sominex.

Never have I been more wrong in my preconceptions about a book. Ribbon of Sand captures PERFECTLY the true mystique of North Carolina's Outer Banks -- how a half-mile wide band of barrier islands survive both because of nature . . . and in spite of it. Each segment of the book ties together both human and natural history. How the wind the shapes the wonderfully high dunes near Kill Devil provided the Wright Brothers with the means to test their gliders and to develop the first airplane. How shifting tides and currents that continue to shape the Outer Banks both abetted . . . and spelled doom for Blackbeard the Pirate.

In short, Ribbon of Sand captured my imagination and instilled in me a greater appreciation for the fragile balance of nature and man on the Outer Banks. I very highly reccomend this book! ... Read more

Book Description

The sea has served as a source of inspiration for writers throughout the ages.Now, in The Oxford Book of the Sea, bestselling author Jonathan Raban has compiled a remarkable anthology of our changing visions of the sea, a rich treasury of writings as varied and enthralling as the ocean itself.Arranged chronologically, and spanning everything from Anglo-Saxon poetry to modern oceanography, these excerpts capture the work of poets, novelists, scientists, and explorers.We read pieces from Samuel Eliot Morison, James Boswell, Charles Dickens, Rachel Carson, Charles Darwin, and John Barth, among many others.And for those who love great writing, Raban not only includes passages from the great sea classics--such as Moby Dick, and The Old Man and the Sea--but also lesser known gems by such writers as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, E.B. White, and Emily Dickinson.For everyone interested in the sea, and those drawn to fine writing, The Oxford Book of the Sea is a bountiful, alluring, and essential collection. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Some entries end up short!
I very much enjoyed this anthology . . . a good blend of poetry, short story and excerpts. However, some of the excerpts ended rather abruptly. I had the feeling that the editor intentionally cut the items at a particular point to keep the reader off-balance! At times, I wished for just a couple more sentences to get some kind of resolution to the piece, even if that didn't finish the story! Otherwise, a very enjoyable volume to pass time either on or off the water.

Most Quoted Passages not Inspiring
I know of so many passages from books that reveal the wonder of the sea, yet they do not appear in this selection of material. Too many of the selections are actually very poor, I believe being selected only because they mention the oceans, not for their inspiration, beauty, or literate value. I think two thirds of the material in this book is actually quite moribund.

Great Invitation to the Sea
Terrific book for those who yearn to learn more about the sea, especially for all those armchair wanderers. Raban has done a yeomans job in collecting some of the more well-known stories (Ancient Mariner etc.,) but the true beauty of the book is in those lesser-known impressions of the sea. This book will draw you back again and again, its pull is that of the sea itself. ... Read more

Book Description

This lively and readable book traces the history of Long Island Sound and tells the stories of the scientists and citizens who have been working to restore and preserve it. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A must read for those interested in L.I.S.
What a fantastic book.As a marine biology educator on Long Island Sound, I found this book to be an essential part of my course.I am requiring it as summer reading for my course.It is full of history and information.If you use the Sound at all, this book is a must read!

Wonderful Book
I came across this book while doing research for a segment that I was going to do for National Public Radio.Since I am only 15 I wasn't really aroundto witness the battle to save LIS, and I needed to know some history about the area from that time.This book helped the most out of all the materials that I read.It started by describing the time European sailors first laid their eyes on LIS to present day.He takes you on a journey through all of LIS history and presents every point of view when explaining the battle conservationists had to fight to get the government to cooperate.I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in LIS.It is not a book that takes a lot of past knowledge to read, but very informative.Good work Mr. Andersen.A lot of work went into this book and it shows. ... Read more

Book Description

Originally published by Houghton Mifflin in 1921, this attractive book includes seventeen prominent authors who offer their knowledge of every aspect of fly fishing from "A History of Fly Rods in North America" by Ferris Greenslet to a chapter on salt water fly fishing by Arthur F. Bell. Illustrated with three magnificent color plates and dozens of black and white illustrations, this wide-ranging volume is fun to read and practical at the same time. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Riviting and engaging reading at its best!
Reading this book puts one right on the ship with Mr. Grey, to wittness all the splendor and action that goes with deep-sea fishing. His descriptive writing technique is easy to understand, and beautifully captures in detail the beauty of the Tahitian waters, islands and people. Accompanied by spectacular photos, you can easily slip back to another time and place, when the fish were teaming and the islands pristine. On a side note, the references and brutality to sharks slightly disturbed me, for Mr. Grey claims to be a naturalist, how can he despise any living creature? I chalk it up to another era of outdated thinking, and today we know that sharks have a vital role in the oceans. All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading more of Mr. Grey's writing. ... Read more

Book Description

Fue la tormenta del siglo, la tormenta perfecta.Con la tensión narrativa de la propia furia de los elementos, el autor nos lleva al corazón de la tormenta, nos deja en los labios un sabor a mar y nos transmite el desamparo que se siente cuando se está de verdad en peligro. ... Read more

Book Description

An epic journey of discovery.

Since much of its life and ecology lies far beneath treacherous waters, the oceans have held enormous fascination and mystery for millennia. Exploration over the years has revealed much, but has also fueled more questions for scientists and explorers. Only in recent times have the means and methods advanced sufficiently to allow in-depth exploration of the ocean's hidden worlds.

Oceanic Wilderness is an illustrated journey that uses the latest technology to take readers under the waves to reveal astonishing and unusual lifeforms in a range of settings. Exploring the exotic geographic destinations of the Caribbean, Pacific Ocean, Japan, Australia, Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean, this book covers: - The beauty and color of the deep reef - Tropical islands and lagoons - Microscopic organisms in a drop of saltwater - Marine life in the tidepool - Stunning environments in cold water and warm - The ocean during the day and through the night.

The exquisite beauty and variety of marine life, profusely illustrated in 600 vivid, color photographs, makes Oceanic Wilderness an extensive reference to the astonishing secrets and lifeforms of this last earthly frontier. It is an ideal book for naturalists, travelers and photography enthusiasts. ... Read more

Book Description

When not writing his famous Western novels, Zane Grey was an insatiable angler. "Tales of Southern Rivers" recounts his tales of fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Keys, the Everglades, and on remote rivers in the jungles of Mexico. With many of these venues being some of today's most popular saltwater fly-fishing destinations, no one will want to miss these highly entertaining and informative yarns. Armchair fishing will never be the same. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A great handbook for scuba divers and tidepool explorers
This is an excellent guidebook, which unlike most, doesn't contain aquarium shots, stock photos and retouched photos. If you want a handy easy to read book which covers 99% of the typical sealife you'll find in the Pacific Northwest - this is it! ... Read more

Book Description

New Zealand is one of the"hot" fly-fishing spots in the world today. Known for brilliant, crystal clear rivers, Zane Grey's New Zealand conjures up images of huge and mythic trout. In "Tales of the Angler's Eldorado", Grey fishes both these now legendary streams as well as pursues the monster swordfish off the coast of the New Zealand shores. It's an adventure story and a fishing story at once. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Carolyn Servid, the child of American parents, grew up in a village in tropical India. America seemed to her, she writes in Of Landscape and Longing, "a world apart," a foreign country in which she could never quite fit. Small wonder, then, that she chose to settle in a once-remote and distant pocket of America, in the little Alaskan town of Sitka, to work as a writer and teacher. Her slender book gathers essays inspired by her time in India, Alaska, and places in between, essays that return to questions of how one finds and makes a home, a place of rootedness and belonging, a place in which to battle homesickness for all the other places we've known. A keen, spiritually inclined observer of the natural world, and a committed defender of the untamed forests that surround her, she writes easily of salmon and eagles, of clouds and spruce trees. And while Servid sometimes lapses into sentimentality--you might not guess, reading her, that humpback whales sing for their own purposes, and not strictly to awaken noble and loving thoughts in the humans who happen to overhear them--her exaltation at living at the water's edge, close to wild animals and the wild ocean, rings true. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Home IS where the heart is.
In her several essays on the landscapes through which Carolyn Servid has traveled, from India to Alaska, she lets us understand her secret longing, the drive of her restlessness and her seeking for something outside herself. She also takes us into the journey with memories and descriptions that are powerful and simple. She describes India so you feel the heat and hear the music. She gives us Alaska as close to the way it is, which is impossible to capture completely, but Carolyn comes as close as anyone I know.

The economy in Southeast Alaska depended for a long time on timber harvest as one of its foundations. That is changing and has changed. In her chapter "Thoughts on Trees: Who Could Live Without This Grace?" Carolyn takes us on a very different journey than one might expect. This is no purely "greenie" diatribe but a thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation about value, comunity, value-added, nature and humanity in its intricate struggle for survival and our constant battle to find and place meaning where it can do either harm or much good.

It is clear throughout this book that Carolyn loves this land and its people and its problems. Falling in love with the landscape over and over again, she reminds us how fragile we are, how implacable are all of nature's forces, and how, if we listen, we can learn.

This is on my "I recommend this book to everyone I know" list. It is also a very good introduction to life in Southeast Alaska. ... Read more

Book Description

Written by an expert in marine biology, this book is a voyage across-and beneath-the vast seas that have fascinated us since history's beginnings, with information on such topics as: ... Read more

Book Description

For more than a century, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been building fortifications along the American coastline in an effort to protect our vulnerable shores. With the prospect of seaborne invasion becoming increasingly unlikely, the Corps has turned its attention to a more subtle but no less dangerous threat: the insidious effects of coastal erosion.

In The Corps and the Shore, Orrin H. Pilkey, the nation's most outspoken coastal geologist, and Katharine L. Dixon, an educator and activist for national coastal policy reform, provide a comprehensive examination of the impact of coastal processes on developed areas and the ways in which the Corps of Engineers has attempted to manage erosion along America's coastline.

Through detailed case studies of large-scale projects in Texas, Maine, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina, the authors demonstrate the shortcomings of the Corps's underlying assumptions and methodology. As they discuss the role of local citizens in the project process, they highlight the interaction between local Corps offices and community officials and residents. By focusing on different types of problems in various regions of the country, Pilkey and Dixon clearly show how the Corps has repeatedly failed to act in the best interest of those most affected by the projects. As well as criticizing Corps practices, the authors provide numerous suggestions for reforming the Corps and making it both more scientifically accountable and more accountable to the citizens it is intended to serve.

The Corps and the Shore is essential reading for coastal residents, environmentalists, planners, and coastal city officials as well as geologists, civil engineers, marine scientists, and anyone concerned with the impact of human society on our shorelines. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Bad Corps: Who's Responsible for BAd Coast Policy in the US?
Book: The Corps and the Shore Authors: Orrin H. Pilkey, Katharine L. Dixon

It's not difficult to beat up the Army Corps of Engineers. It's run roughshod over more than one engineering and erth moving project. In this book the authors make a compelling case (as do several other good books)that the Corps used traditional steel and concrete projects to force human utilization on the nation's coastal zones. In spite of the very incisive and useful analysis in this book we should recognize that American's love the coast, are moving there in unprescedented numbers, and are investing massive amounts of capital in housing, recreational, and commercial construction.

Was the Army Corps of Engineers a culprit in the "urbanization" of America's coastlines and beaches or was the Corps an inevitable partner in coastal development? My own analysis (see our discussion at ...) is that the coast and seashore is a magnet for population throughout the world. Most "megacities" in the world are coastal cities. It is instructive that, although the Corps exists only in the United States, "Corps-like" construction and structures which seriously assault the coastal areas (by "armouring" the beach) takes place in all the coastal zones I have studied.

Everyone who has visited, lived, or worked near the beach must read this book. But ask yourself this "If the Army Corps had not undertaken these projects who would have done so?"

Steffen Schmidt, Ph.D Professor of Politics and Coastal Policy Iowa State University and Nova Southeastern University, Oceanographic Center, Ft. Lauderdale

Fascinating, harrowing, and definitive
Scourge of developers everwhere, coastal geologist Pilkey is the deepestand most penetrating thinker we have about our complex relationship withthe shoreline. With this book, Pilkey makes public his disgust with theham-handed and over-engineered tactics of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineersand their walling of the American coastline.

Whether you live near thecoast, are thinking of moving there, or are just curious about thosemillion-dollar Malibu mansion you see tumbling into the Pacific everywinter, you need to read this book. ... Read more

Book Description

From microscopic organisms on tidal rocks to dense marine forests, seaweeds vary widely in size and are amazingly well adapted to both the Arctic and the tropics. David Thomas presents a detailed look at what seaweeds are, how they live, and why humans value them. Seaweeds offer a rich variety of habitats for animals and serve as important food sources. Thomas describes the red, brown, and green classifications that encompass over ten thousand species and emphasizes that seaweeds can be understood as dynamic canopies only by visualizing them under water. He explains how seaweeds get all of their nutrients from the surrounding water, needing roots only to anchor to the sea floor, and how some species use "anti-grazing" strategies to discourage fish by releasing swift doses of unappetizing acids. The economic value of seaweed is astounding. Some species are harvested for $1 billion annually, and seaweed constitutes up to 10 percent of the average diet in Japan. The search continues for compounds in seaweed that may be beneficial as new drugs, antibiotics, and cancer treatments. Not only is seaweed vital to coastal ecosystems, but it is also an important part of everyday life. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is a unique treasury of information about one of nature's marvels: floating islands. The bibliography contains more than 1800 citations of books and articles in twenty languages on the subject; the entries are annotated and cross-referenced, and there are both thematic and geographic indices. All aspects of floating islands are addressed, including the formation of floating islands, the causes of their buoyancy, their role in the ecology of lakes and wetlands, their flora and fauna, their role in the dispersal of plants and animals, and methods for controlling and managing them. Works are also cited on artificial floating islands used for agriculture, human habitation, wildlife habitat, and improvement of water quality; and floating islands in literature, myth, and legend. The book includes the text and an English translation, with detailed notes, of G. C. Munz's rare 1711 thesis on floating islands, as well as photographs of several floating islands. ... Read more